National Lottery stops selling invalid tickets

The National Lottery website will finally ban people from buying invalid tickets. Thousands of people have unwittingly buying their tickets online, not knowing that their circumstances and a quirk in the vast tome of rules means that they would never be able to claim any winnings.

So who are these people, and why were the tickets invalid?

Overseas banned

A twist in National Lottery rules means that if you are overseas when you buy a ticket online, it's not valid. This means that people who are based abroad cannot enter and win, and even if you're on holiday when you buy a ticket, it's not valid. You have to be physically in the UK or the Isle of Man when you buy it. If you are elsewhere at the time, any winnings will not be paid out to you.

The general rule has always been that if any country has its own lottery, then a UK National Lottery ticket wouldn't be valid. This means they have never applied when the purchaser has been based somewhere like Spain or the US. However, to make things clearer, from December 2010, Camelot changed the rules so that tickets wouldn't be valid anywhere outside the UK and the Isle of Man.

North East is luckiest in Lotto

The map was commissioned to mark Tuesday night's EuroMillions roll-over which is now a staggering £138 million - the fifth biggest jackpot ever offered in the UK.

Should anyone scoop the jackpot, their wealth will be slightly less than Europe's biggest Lottery winners Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs in Ayrshire. The husband and wife made the headlines in July when they won £161,653,000, thanks to several rollovers.

Boasting 164 National Lottery millionaires, one in 14,211 North East residents has now banked a seven-figure jackpot prize. Winners Paul and Christine Goldie from Washington, near Sunderland, pocketed £3,581,481 after their numbers came up on Christmas Day last year.

The Millionaire Map, which includes both publicity and non-publicity winners, is based on the number of millionaires created per adult population. One man who did go public with his winnings was Wayne Hughes from Holyhead on Anglesey, north Wales. The shop worker scooped £1,117,779 last August and even had the winning numbers tattooed on his arm.

The region with the fewest millionaire jackpot winners was Northern Ireland, where only 53 seven-figure or more winners were created.

Wales has seen 179 millionaires - one person in 14,502 - created over the last 16 years. Rugby fans Terry Roberts, Mike Williams, Lance Gifford and Gerwyn Jones, from the Rhondda Valley in south Wales, split £4,091,609 in April this year.

Website

The website has always featured a number of warnings. However, it has always been possible to bypass these and buy a ticket anyway. Now finally Camelot has confirmed it will use location software to block access for anyone outside of the UK or Isle of Man from 23 April.

It has emailed customers saying: "As you are aware, to play National Lottery games online or by text you must be a UK or Isle of Man resident and be physically located in the UK or Isle of Man when buying a ticket. If you play by Direct Debit, not only must you be physically located in the UK or Isle of Man when setting up your Direct Debit but also when making amendments to it, including buying additional tickets, or changing your numbers or payment details."

Interestingly, the rules also entitle the National Lottery to reclaim any prizes that have already been awarded to people breaking the rules. If they thought the negative press they received from refusing payouts was bad, brace yourself from the first time they decide to claw back someone's winnings!

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dockerryan

So i play online and if i am going on holiday and buy my tickets in advance (online) does this mean that if i am one of those really lucky people who's numbers come up ,that i won't be able to legally claim my prize?

Did you know, and i only just found out. that a lot of the things that are happening in the uk at the precise moment in time, were actually decided by the last Government that was in , sorry folks that was the Labour Party. so the demise of the Navy was the founding by the the "Blair " fraternity. and you ask how do i know this. Well I watched a programme on Channel 4. the other evening, and there were various people in - intelligence etc., - that spilled the beans, so as to say on what was in the pipe line for us the mortals....

I would be more interested in getting rid of Huff' post, a while back i called a father a bastard for stealing his daughters inheritance and they blocked it after allowing it, I tried to take this up with their solucitors and since that day they will not allow me to post anything. Does anyone agree with me?

yes im banned as well cos im not a namby pamby bleedin heart do gooder i speak the truth say it as i see it give my opinion huff dont like it unless you say what they want you to long live aol f k the huff

I don't understand your interest in getting rid of Huff post. If you don't like it, don't read it. It is one of the best to come out of America and I don't wish to be deprived of it. As for calling people derogatory names, you have no right unless you are the judge convicting him. Until then all crimes are only alleged, and this father could have been totally innocent.

The other interesting thing about this isNational Lottery can block overseas people using the site to play.WHY can't the UK Government STOP FOREIGN Porn and Terrorist Type sites from being accessed via the UK????

WITH A SLIGHTLY DEVIOUS MIND THAT I HAVE I THNK THAT IS THE LONG TERM AIM - AFTERALL OTHER COUNTRIES (CHINA, KOREA, IRAN ETC) BLOCK INTERNET CONTENT IN AND OUT OF THEIR COUNTRIES.BUT FIRST THEY WANT TO SOFTEN US UP BY TELLING US WE WERE BEING CONNED BY THE NATIONAL LOTTERY AND THAT CONTROLS NEED TO BE PUT IN PLACE TO STOP THIS, SO WE WILL ACCEPT WHAT THEY REALLY WANT TO DO.DONT CALL ME A CONSPIRACY THEORIST, IT IS JUST SIMPLE MISDIRECTION / SMOKE AND MIRRORS MAGIC / POLITICS

This is very similar to what used to happen in CLUBS and people(playing) using their Jackpot fruits machines, you were OK putting the money in and filling it up, so long as you DIDN'T actually win anything more than a pound, IF you did, all of a sudden you were told you weren't allowed to play it and any winnings were forfeit, despite being signed in and getting bags of coins from the club who were happy to change your notes, so long as you lost!!Do you not recall the early days when jackpots on the Lottery were sometinmes £20m+, and it was reported that sydicates of overseas players (Chinese I seem to recall) were reported on the TV News as buying MILLIONS of tickets to stack the odds in their favour...DID they WIN? Will Lotto get the winnings back?Seems a joke to me , if people want to spend their cash on a gamble LET THEM, wherever they live, it ALL goes in the same pot and we all have an equal chance of winning, just as we do being struck by lightening!!

You cannot access the Camelot site if you are not in the UK as your access is blocked. (Now finally Camelot has confirmed it will use location software to block access for anyone outside of the UK or Isle of Man from 23 April.) If you cannot access the sight you cannot buy tickets. YOU CANNOT EVEN CHECK IF YOU HAVE WON. I buy lucky dip tickets by standing order. So I don't know what they are. As Camelot notify me when I have won it was fine. I would get notified by email that I have won. I would then go on line and see how much I have won. I am out of the country at present and have been notified I have won. I tried to go on line to see how much I have won and I cannot get onto the Camelot site as I have been blocked. (We think you're outside the UK and Isle of ManYou will therefore be prevented from accessing your National Lottery Account any further.)If I cannot check my account then no point having an account. I have closed my account with Camelot.I will have to wait until after my holiday to see what I have won.

A 'Twist' in the lottery Rules. It sounds to me like National Lottery need to explain themselvesclearly. So by using Euromillions in their advertising and promotion they have been less thanforthcoming to date. Step in OFT.